Two Months of growth

The kale is almost ready to pick.  One of our favorite things to do with kale is make this soup -- substituting kale for escarole.

BROCCOLI.  Still haven't produced heads yet.  Hoping it's not too warm here.  I know there are others in my area having success growing broccoli.  Hopefully I didn't plant too late.  I have read that broccoli doen't like the heat and the temps have been in the 80s this week.  I'll keep peeking inside and gently pulling the leaves back in the center of the plant.  Perhaps I am just being impatient.

 BUTTERHEAD LETTUCE.  Time for some salad!

RAINBOW CARROTS.  I love to see the vibrant purple head peeking out from the soil.  We're getting close to harvesting carrots.  I wonder what is beneath the soil.  How can you tell when a carrot is done?  

 Curly KALE.  Curly headed baby.  Mouthful of juicy orange.

 Two months of carrot green growth.

 Carpet of parsley. 

There you have it.  Two months of growth.  Time to harvest some things and time to sit back and patiently await others.  I'm thinking about another locavore challenge.  One month of eating one locally grown food each day.  Any takers? 

Here we go again

Although the gardening here has been continuous, my blogging hasn't been so steady.  I hate to be inconsistent.  I enjoy posting our little garden happenings.

I've decided I need a gardening journal.  My Florida Gardening book has notes illegibly scribbled throughout.  My handwriting has never been neat, and it's hit an all-time elementary school boy low {no offense males}.  And, those marginal margins just aren't cutting it. Every growing season brings new ideas, mistakes to amend, sketched garden layouts, and much more than the minimal white of my book pages can hold.

Here are the green beginnings of rainbow carrots.  Next post you will see two and a half months worth of growth.  It is a whole lot greener now!

Last fall my carrots, along with other root vegetables, had a difficult time growing in my garden.  I'm still unsure if that was something I did or didn't do, or maybe my soil??  This year I tried containers and the outcome is much better than last year's.  * Note for future garden journal * --  NEED many more containers for next years carrots!  I am anxious to pull these babies out of the garden and see the beautiful spectrum of colors.  I'm hoping they continue to grow as they should.  I have noticed some colors peeking through the soil beneath the carrot foliage.  Fingers are crossed here.

The children are also growing well.  Just as gardening is an ongoing experiment and learning experience, so is raising a child.  Sometimes our parental methods have to be switched up, and new strategies tried.  Each child is different.  What works for one may not work for another.  Too bad kids don't come with instructions as my seeds packets do.  I guess that is part of the fun of parenting.  When you were a child did you ever like to pick the brown paper surprise grab bag?  I did.  You just never know what you're gonna get. 

 

Last year the kale failed, and we were very disappointed.  Two years ago it was like a weed we couldn't control.  Well, I'm happy to say I'm feeling good about this years' kale.  I think last year was too warm, halting our vegetables' growth.  We've had some cooler days this time around and I think it is making all the difference. 

We harvested 16 satsumas last month!  That's right, 16.  I had to count -- because each one of those satsumas meant so much to us.  Lame, I know.  But our tree is young and gave us one lonely satsuma the previous year.  We were thrilled when these sixteen grew.  We took our time with them and enjoyed them. (Well, as much as we could with little ones jumping up and down, tugging at our clothes, while we peeled them.)

Pictures to come soon of the garden -  two and a half months in....

In honor of my Seattle heritage...

and Jimi Hendrix, we have purple haze carrots growing in the second garden bed, along with broccoli and beets.

Week 5 in my backyard

Looking at the garden pictures from one week ago I see a considerable increase in the amount of green.  My garden is growing!  The satsuma tree has birthed one lonely satsuma.  We weren't expecting much from our citrus tree until next Fall, but this little one was a pleasant surprise.  The red leaf lettuce is changing with the leaves on the trees; the hammock is up and plenty of lounging has been going on in the cool breeze.  My three year old lays very still in it, hanging his toddler legs over the side.  I've always been impressed with his ability to abruptly halt play, making time to kick back and relax; a rare thing for someone so young, and a good reminder to me that sometimes the answer is simply to: 

s  l  o  w    d  o  w  n . 

And, since 80% of our household is male, and we have a couple of foam swords lying around, sword fights are inevitable. 

There you have it - week five for my little garden.  Year five for my oldest little person.  There's a whole lot of growing going on over here!

fall garden week 4

some lettuce from the Mesclun Mix is 5" tall!

baby bibb.

more from the mesclun.

 

 

trail of kale.

 

 

 

My little helper in the garden.  Sweet boy.

The Locavore Challenge!

Here it is: Eat locally for 30 days.  

This may sound daunting, but don't let it be!  Allow me to explain...  You do not need to prepare an entire meal with as many local ingredients as you can dig up -- although you may. 

What it does mean -- eat ONE local thing a day. 

A locavore is someone who makes an effort to eat food that is grown, raised, or produced within a 100-mile radius of home.  Let's broaden the "local" boundaries to mean anything in your state.  You could pull a few mint leaves from your potted mint and toss it into your salad; or, spread a teaspoon of local honey on your toast; another idea, you could roast a halved squash that you purchased from your neighborhood farmer's market.  This can be as simple or as complex as you'd like it to be.  It is up to you.

By doing this we may not be making a huge change in our diet yet but, it will push us to search out what our surrounding area has to offer - because it is there!  And, our local food growers need us and we need them! This will give us knowledge.  And, knowledge empowers us!

We will begin November 1st.  This way you have time to hop on the internet and locate the local.  Any sort of organic grocer will have items; your neighborhood farmer's market; even your common, every day grocery store is likely to have some things.

You may email me pictures that you'd like to share on this blog of the local foods you added to your daily diet.  I would love to see what you're eating (and others would enjoy too, if others are out there... hope you are!). Or, you may simply leave a comment about what you ate that day.  If you can't do this every day, that's ok.  Keep on trying throughout November.  Eat locally as often as you can.  This isn't about us making a great change to our diets, but rather it gives us the knowledge we need to start making changes.  Perhaps you will try some new fun recipes along the way!  This will be just as challenging for you as it will be for me.  Until now my local food purchases are few. And, if you are already living this way -- WONDERFUL!  Please share your knowledge with us!

Ooh -- this is going to be fun!  Begin searching now.

seeds sprouting

It's begun!

charming little bibb

heart-shaped kale

red leaf from a mesclun mix

and, spinach.

week three

Fall Garden Game Plan

Here's the game plan ...The front box is filled with leafy greens.  Did you know that aside from being beautiful kale is chock-full of anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory components?  It's true!  Last year we planted kale and it flourished like a weed!  We only planted a 3'x5' section of it. We ate kale weekly and gave some away to friends and there was still tons left!  I think every time the rain fell the kale grew a few inches. 

Broccoli is also big at our house.  The kids love it.  They're not big on eating it raw. Yet.  I think it's a bit difficult to chew on.  But they do LOVE their roasted broccoli -- tossed in olive oil and simply seasoned with kosher salt and ground pepper.

Beets though...  This is new to us.

Stay tuned.  Tomorrow I'll share with you what I'm going to do with that rotund basil bush.  Mmm...  it's my favorite basil recipe!